United Airlines has announced a completely new structure to the way most passengers board their planes later this month.
According to an internal memo obtained Tuesday by WFLA-Fox5, the new boarding process, known as “WILMA,” will begin for flights on Oct. 26.
WILMA stands for window-middle-aisle denoting the order passengers will board the plane. The airline believes WILMA will cut down on constant adjustments for those already seated to get up stand in the aisle to allow another passenger to sit down, blocking the whole boarding process for the subsequent rows, saving up to 2 minutes boarding time per flight.
First-class and business-class passengers will see no change to their boarding hierarchy, continuing to board the plane first.
Also without change is the Pre-boarding through Group 3, including unaccompanied minors, active-duty military, people with disabilities, and families traveling with children 2 years old and under.
Once these passengers have boarded, they will then board Group 3 which is all window seat passengers, followed by Group 4 passengers with middle seats, and then Group 5 aisle seat passengers.
Passengers traveling together on the same economy reservation will be able to board at the same time based on the “highest applicable boarding group,” according to the memo.
United has been battling a two minute boarding time increase since pre-pandemic times. The airline has been testing WILMA at one of its hubs and four domestic locations to ensure a reduced time prior to rolling it out across all of their designated flights.
WILMA will be implemented on all domestic and some international flights.
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